Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 107: To ask the Minister for Health and Children in the interests of accountability, if parliamentary questions referred by her Department to the Health Service Executive for direct reply will be answered within a maximum of six days; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35554/10]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Independent)
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In 2009 my Department received a total of 5,797 Parliamentary Questions, 55% (3,179 P.Q.s) of which were referred to other bodies, mainly the HSE for reply. These questions related to operational issues, a large number of which concerned individual cases.

The operation of the Parliamentary Affairs Division of the HSE (PAD) allows for the centralised receipt, assignment and tracking of Parliamentary Questions within the HSE's extensive network of operations. More generally, PAD monitors overall performance in relation to the timely issue of replies and provides a central contact for all requests from Oireachtas members for information relating to matters within the statutory remit of the Executive. It reports on a regular basis to the Chief Executive Officer and his management team.

In 2007 the Executive worked to a timeframe of responding to referred questions within 20 working days and this target was met for 65% of referred questions. From January 2008, this timeframe was reduced to 15 working days and 73% of referred questions were answered within this period. In 2009, 62% of questions referred to the Executive were answered within the 15 day timeframe.

However, between January and September 1st of this year, the number of questions answered within the 15 day timeframe dropped to 43%. This was due to a period of industrial action which commenced on a limited basis within the Health Service Executive on the 4th January 2010 and which escalated in effect from 1st March through to June 15th. In effect no new Parliamentary Questions could be forwarded to the Executive by my Department during the latter period.

The Executive is very conscious of the need for prompt responses to Parliamentary Questions and there is regular liaison between my Department and the Executive in this regard. While the Executive attempts to answer all questions referred to it as quickly as possible, many of the questions submitted by Deputies request large and detailed amounts of statistical data on a variety of subjects which require input and co-ordination from all areas of the Executive. Recent questions of this nature submitted to my Department include:

- the number of home help hours provided in each year from 2007 to 2010 on a county basis;

- the number of TB cases diagnosed in every county for each year between 2005 and 2010;

- the number of persons on the waiting list for hearing aids in each HSE region;

- the number of persons currently on waiting lists to see consultants in every hospital and the length of time each person has been on the list.

Given the volume of information sought in these type of questions, the Deputy will appreciate that it may not be possible to provide responses to such questions in the timeframe suggested by the Deputy. However, my officials are working closely with the HSE to try to improve the service to members of the Oireachtas generally including questions and representations relating to individuals. I am aware that the Department of Social Protection provides a high standard of service in this regard.

At recent meetings with the new CEO of the HSE, Mr. Cathal Magee, I have stressed the importance of providing responses to Parliamentary Questions that are both prompt and of a high quality. Mr. Magee is very aware of my concerns in this regard and is committed to improving the handling of parliamentary affairs within the HSE.